Town march on in six-goal blitz against struggling New Mills

A BRACE of goals from Daniel Facey and Ernest Boafa saw Brighouse Town demolish a New Mills side struggling for confidence.

Off the back of a winning streak, Town were looking to build and in the first half they tore the Derbyshire outfit to pieces.

Coming in to the game The Millers previous meetings with Brighouse had seen them go down 4-1 at home and they did a little better at the Dual Seal Stadium, losing 4-3.

Their start to the season has now seen them lose all eight of their league games as well as a cup game and manager Keith Briggs has really got his work cut out.

However, a pleased Town boss Paul Quinn said after the game: “We obviously wanted to build on Saturday’s win.

“We didn’t play that well but tonight I thought we put in a really good performance and were where we wanted to be.”

It only took a few minutes for Brighouse to settle into the game as they came up against a feisty Millers side.

After Facey looked to put Boafa through he was just one step ahead of the ball, but a quick turn-around saw it move out wide and Sam Hewitt and Kurt Harris worked it in to Isaac Baldwin to find the back of the net on six minutes.

Town were really mounting the pressure in the visitors half and, moments, later Boafa’s free-kick just skimmed the top of the crossbar and then Tom Haigh set Baldwin, but his attempt just went wide.

New Mills’s aggressive style saw Danny Vincent see yellow as he took out Daniel Illingworth in front of referee David Benton and as they struggled to cope with Brighouse’s attacking style, they very rarely ventured into their opponents half of the field.

Town’s persistence paid off and they extended their lead on 31 minutes when, from just over the halfway line, Baldwin sent Facey on a blistering run up the wing and as he moved in towards the goal he sent it hurtling into the bottom corner, giving goalkeeper Liam Higginbotham no chance.

Their third came five minutes later when yet again Baldwin was the supplier, this time with Sam Hewitt on the end of it repeating Facey’s effort with a blast into the bottom corner.

New Mills got an opportunity on 39 minutes when the referee had to have a word with Kurt Harris. But the resulting free-kick was nothing for Paul Hagreen to worry about as it sailed over the clubs hospitality suite.

With 47 minutes on the clock, The Millers were looking to get something when they had a free-kick and then a corner, but they were dealt with easily as half-time arrived.

After the break, you may have been forgiven for thinking that the message to Town was to settle down and grind out the win.

However, 3-0 was obviously not enough and as they camped in New Mills’ half Harris nicked the ball from Nick Alexander and drove into the box before passing the ball to Boafa to complete the move.

Boafa bagged a brace on 56 minutes when Facey sent the ball across the face of the goal and he was on hand to slot it home.

Town were coasting so it seemed at 5-0 up, but a lapse in concentration saw the visitors break their duck when Alex Elliott’s shot on target went through several pairs of legs and over the line.

Brighouse retaliated and, on 67 minutes, Facey grabbed his second goal of the evening by dropping to the floor and swivelling his hips to tap the ball in.

The half also saw Hewitt, Illingworth and Haigh give way to the fresh legs of Ben Thornton, Steven Hollingworth and Sheldon Rodgers.

A crowd of 181 were looking for more goals but as time ticked away it was looking less and likely.